“No,” said the City Mouse, “I will take you to the cellar; there is something especial there.”

So the City Mouse took his little friend down the cellar stairs and into a big cupboard where there were many shelves. On the shelves there were jars of butter, and cheeses in bags and out of bags. Overhead hung bunches of sausages, and there were spicy apples in barrels standing about. It smelled so good that it went to the little Country Mouse’s head. He ran along the shelf and nibbled at a cheese there, and a bit of butter there, until he saw an especially rich, very delicious-smelling piece of cheese on a queer little stand in the corner. He was just on the point of putting his teeth into the cheese when the City Mouse saw him.